To answer the 8 marker fully you must:
identify the commonality (the similarity). This will most likely be a theme, setting or characterisation used. Then tell me how you see it in the first poem (1 mark) Then tell me how you see it in the other poem(1 mark).
Referring to/quoting from the extract in front of you (1 mark) and analysing it (1 mark) in detail will get you the next two marks.
Quote (1 mark) and analyse (1 mark) from another Kay poem.
Quote (1 mark) and analyse (1 mark) from another Kay poem.

Here’s a sample to look at using questions on Divorce:

With close textual reference, show how the theme of family relationships is explored in this poem, and in at least one other poem by Jackie Kay.

The speaker thinks that other parents are lovely and angelic. We know this as she says ‘whose faces turn up to the light’. The word choice here of ‘light’ suggests that these parents are good and innocent and never get angry. The idea that they ‘turn’ their faces to the light also suggests that they chose to be happy. Secondly, there is a metaphor saying the parents ‘speak in the soft murmur of rivers’. This makes clear that the parents are nice as their voices are relaxing and calming and never loud like the sound of a gentle river.
55. In verse two, the tone becomes soft and gentle. There is a metaphor that does this when it says ‘sing in the colourful voices of rainbows’. Here the happiness of rainbows is being compared to the happiness of the parents voices singing which creates a kind and calm image.
Divorce and Keeping Orchids are two poems by Jackie Kay that share the theme of family relationships, specifically the relationship between a child and her parents. In Divorce the relationship is strained as a small child wants to leave her parents who she has fallen out with. In Keeping Orchids the child is an adult meeting her birth mother for the first time and she recounts the awkwardness of the meeting.
In divorce this idea is put most simply when the speaker uses word choice to say ‘I want a divorce’. The tone here is demanding, the shortness of the sentence makes it clear what the speaker wants and the plosive sounds reinforce the sharpness of her tone.
In Keeping Orchids the awkwardness of the strained relationship is clearly put across when the speaker talks about the orchids her birth mother gave her as having ‘closed buds’. These become a metaphor for the secrets her birth mother has kept from her during the meeting. There is still much she does not know about her genetic mother.
Another way the awkwardness is shown in Keeping Orchids is when it says the mother ‘folds and unfolds’ the bag. This shows she is feeling nervous as the repetition demonstrates the repeated movements and nervous energy of the mum as she fidgets around her daughter. They are both uncomfortable.

Who is speaking?
What are they talking about?
Why do you think the grandmother keeps the newspapers in verse 2?
Are the presents put to use?
What does the girl spend lots of time doing in verse 2?
What is the letter about at the start of verse 3?
What is the pun in ‘chewing for ages’ in verse 3?
Are the parcels really in an ‘air raid shelter’?
Why does Jackie find the church air strange and think there are ghosts?
What technique is used in ‘flock of women’ and how is it effective?
Why are they described as missionaries?
What about the alliteration on ‘God grabs me in Glasgow with Gran’?
Why does she comment that the ‘hall is huge’?
What technique is used in ‘like octopus arms’ and how is it effective?
Why describe the piano as a ‘one-winged creature’?
Why mention the cemetery, coffins and the ambulances?

Next copy these annotations up:
My Grandmothers’s Houses Annotations

Divorce
1. Explain how the speaker’s sense of irritation is conveyed in lines 1-6. (4)
2. What is the speaker’s attitude to her parents (line 6-14)? (2)
3. How does the tone change in the second stanza and how is this achieved? (2)
4. Choose two examples of imagery from lines 16-23 and explain in detail how each adds to your understanding of the poem. (4)

Lucozade
1. Explain how the speaker’s sense of incompetence is conveyed in lines 1-6. (4)
2. What is the mother’s attitude towards being in hospital (line 9-20) and how is it suggested? (4)
3. What impression do we get of the mother at the end of the hospital visit and how is this given? (lines 25-8) (4)
4. How effective is the last line of the poem and why? (2)

Keeping Orchids
1. Explain how we get a sense of the speaker’s uneasiness in lines 1-12. (4)
2. What is the speaker’s attitude about herself (line 7-16) and how is it suggested? (4)
3. What impression do we get of the mother’s feelings about her own life (lines 19-28) (2)
4. What do you think the speaker is really saying in the last two lines? (2)

Bed
1. Explain how the speaker’s sense of frustration is conveyed in lines 1-6. (4)
2. What is the speaker’s attitude about herself (line 7-16) and how is it suggested? (4)
3. What impression do we get of the daughter’s feelings towards her mother and how is this portrayed (lines 25-8) (4)
4. Choose an image from lines 33-6 and explain how it is effective. (2)

Keeping Orchids
1.Many of the main ideas or concerns of the poem come across clearly in the early part of the poem. Read again the first six stanzas:
“The orchids my mother gave me… my mother’s hands are all I have.”
(a) Identify two ideas and/or concerns that are introduced in these lines.(2)
(b) Show how two examples of the poet’s use of language in this part of the poem help to clarify or illustrate her meaning. (4)
2. Show how any two examples of the poet’s use of language in the middle section of the poem effectively contribute to the main ideas or concerns of the poem. Read again the lines included in: “Her face is fading fast… a box of love letters.” (4)
3. How effective do you find the last three stanzas of the poem as a conclusion to the poem? Your answer might deal with ideas and/or language. (2)
4. With close textual reference, show how the ideas and/or language of this poem are similar OR different to another poem or poems by Jackie Kay that you have read. (8)